You know that you love makeup when, despite having a the flu, you still drag yourself out of bed to do your makeup (with the utmost care, I must add) before collapsing back into bed. On this particular day, I even wandered outside in my feverish delirium to take a few pictures of a job well done. I’m still loving using a pencil liner to tightline instead of my standard black liquid liner. And the best part of all? It takes a fraction of the time!

Usually I rim my lower waterline in dark brown. Since I was sick, I needed a little pick me up and went with a cream liner instead!

While I have yet to master the art of taking high quality makeup photos, I wanted to share my look from yesterday. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m pretty predictable with my makeup, but I got radical and tried a new color AND technique. Gasp. Although I should note that the purpley color was in my trusty Lorac Pro Palette- I simply hadn’t dipped my brush in it since I bought the palette last year. Instead of doing my usual light to dark gradient in shades of gold and brown, I tried something a little different. I left a highlight in the center of my eye and focused the main color, a soft purple shade, on the inner and outer corner, as well as in the crease. I also didn’t do my usual swipe of liquid liner, but instead worked some pencil liner into the roots of my lashes. I’d love to post a makeup tutorial sometime soon!

I’d consider myself a fairly spontaneous person. I decided to move out west and bought a one-way ticket to San Francisco the night before, for example. I try to avoid concrete plans by and large. When it comes to my makeup, however, I admit to being a creature of habit. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy trying out different looks. Not at all. I’d say I have entirely way too much makeup for one girl (and therefore one face!). But I get those warm fuzzies when I swipe on my favorite lipstick or stipple on my best blush. And I don’t get tired of it. Why mess with what you like, I ask myself? So I don’t. Easy as that.

Lorac Pro Palette– My favorite eyeshadow palette of all time. Soft and buttery shadows with excellent payoff. I find golds and browns to be my most complimentary colors. I mostly reach for White, Light Bronze, Gold, Sable and Expresso.

Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Black– “Waterproof” is an understatement. This stuff will NOT budge- make sure you have a good makeup remover! The felt tip means that you get the perfect, inky black flick every time. If your hands aren’t wobbling all around as they tend to do, that is. I swear my hands are perfectly steady all day long. As soon as that eyeliner cap comes off though…my hands shake like I’m in an earthquake. It’s so frustrating! Thankfully this product is forgiving in that you have time to quickly correct any mistakes with a cotton bud before it sets.

Clinique Lash Primer, Maybelline Full n’ Soft and Jodana Best Lash Extreme– Why wear one mascara when you can wear two?! But really. I find that doubling- or tripling- up my lashes with different brands gives me the lushest and longest lashes. Starting off with lash primer gives me a good foundation. I find that Full n’ Soft gives good volume and smoothes out clumps while Best Lash Extreme gives me the length that I want. I never forget to curl my lashes either.

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NW20- I don’t wear foundation on a daily basis thanks to my incredibly sensitive skin. This concealer does a great job of covering up any spots I may have. Which, thankfully, hasn’t been often since using Lea Journo shampoo (see post below!).

MAC blush in Melba– Not much to say about this one- the color is so subtle and lovely. I also use Wet n’ Wild blush in Mellow Wine quite frequently.

NARS Light Reflecting Loose Setting Powder– This is one of the only powders that has never broken me out. Seriously. This stuff really does give your skin an airbrushed look. I feel naked without it! I prefer the loose powder over the NARS pressed compact as I feel like it gives a nicer finish and doesn’t have as much shimmer.

MAC lipstick in Velvet Teddy (matte)– Ah,the rumored lipstick of Kylie Jenner. I actually found this gem via Brittney Lee Saunders on YouTube. Before this lipstick I thought nudes made me look like a corpse. Not pretty. The only complaint I have about this product is that the matte formulation means it can be a teeny bit dry. I’m most adventurous when it comes to lipstick. Bright purple, dark purple, fluorescent orange, nearly black, actually black- I love them all.

So there you have it. The items that make my “hit list”. I have plenty more products that I adore, but I’ll save those for another day! 🙂